Mauritius House to be set up in city

PATNA: Mauritius government has decided to set up Mauritius House in Patna to provide assistance to investors from both the sides. Mauritius PM Navinchandra Ramgoolam, during his dinner with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Sunday, also announced setting up of Mauritian Consulate in Patna. The opening of consulate office in Patna would facilitate travelling by the people of both the nations for any business transactions. Minister for foreign affairs, international trade and cooperation Madan Dulloo, during a business meeting with Bihar chief minister, said the people of Mauritius were proud to receive the leader of 85 million people of Bihar. Mauritius deputy PM and minister of finance and economic development Rama Sithanen said the visit of Bihar chief minister was a prelude to a strong economic bonding between Mauritius and Bihar. Minister of industries, small and medium enterprises Rajesh Jeetah, in his address, said he was aware that Bihar had made several provisions for facilitating investment there. He hoped that the entrepreneurs from Mauritius would surely take advantage of that, and make important contributions to the economic development of the land of its forefathers. He also announced that he would lead a delegation of industrialists from Mauritius to Bihar. Nitish, in his keynote address, requested all the Mauritian investors to come forward and invest in Bihar and be a partner in its development and the state government would ensure speedy approval of their projects. He also said there was immense potential for investment in Bihar. Investment can be made in the state only when high quality infrastructural facilities and peaceful environment are available, he added. Since the formation of the NDA government in Bihar, he was trying to establish such conditions in the state, Nitish said. There is a good scope for development of food processing and handloom industries in the state. The project reports prepared by Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services are being implemented for these two sectors, Nitish said. Nitish said sugarcane being a major crop of Mauritius, there is a vast scope for co-operation between the two countries in this sector and for investment in Bihar especially for production of alcohol and for promotion of bio-fuels. In power sector, he said there was immense scope for investment by investors from Mauritius. With the promotion of sugarcane industry, the co-generated power as an important by-product would be purchased by the Bihar State Electricity Board and the government would encourage private power projects for meeting the demand of power, he said. After exchange of pleasantries in the first couple of days, Team Bihar on Monday began its economic business campaign from the Grand Bay International Conference Centre with the inauguration of the business meeting "Invest in Bihar". The meeting was organised by the Board of Investment, Mauritius, SBI International and India Business Council. The session was attended by large number of businessmen, many of whom belonged to nations other than Mauritius and India, said Bihar's resident commissioner.